Daily News Digest December 23, 2024
Images of the Day:
Ted Rall: Work Inside Our System Defenders of the health insurance industry reacted to the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York by saying that murder and violence are never the answer because there’s always the option of working within the political system to reform a business based on profiting off pain, misery and death of sick Americans. In reality, however, the system does not allow any challenge to the status quo.
Since World War I, ‘the war to end all wars’, there have been perpetual wars for perpetual peace, this Laura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, Under the Banner Headline: “There Is No Peace”There is No Democracy! When Less Than 1% Control the Wealth, Production, and Price of Everything Produced and Consumed in the World! In the present period of unfettered Capitalism, the pretense of democratic rule does not exist, except in the minds of ‘socialists’ like Bernie Sanders and the Labor Bureaucracy! Capitalists view all struggles as struggles against capitalist rule! Transition demands immediately become revolutionary demands! Therefore, any resistence to the attack of capitalists has to be organized by those that understand this!
Today, the United States Capitalists are Consolidating Themselves as the Supreme Capitalists! Capitalism’s Gluttony is Demonstrated by It’s Quest for More and More Profits at the Expense of Humanity! The Rise of Capitalism was Under the Banner of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity! Now There is Less Liberty, More Inequality, and Less Fraternity of Humanity! Every Day, From Global Warming to Global War There is a New Example of Capitalism in Imperialist Decay!
Capitalism has Outlived its Time, It is Now a Threat to Life and Humanity! Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Has Been Aware of the Coming Catastrophe of Global Warming Over 5 Decades Ago and Did Nothing!: Under Capitalism — Human Lives Don’t Matter Capitalism Does Not, and Never Has, Worked for the Masses! In Its Death Agony, Capitalism Is Traveling About The World Like The Four Horsemen of the The Apocalypse, Spreading Racism, War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. The very future of Humanity Is Now At stake!
The Current Five Current and Constant Threats to Humanity!:
- Pauperization of the World, as the 1% get Richer!
- Global Warming!
- Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace!
- The Crisis of Famine is Soaring Throughout the World! And
- Factory Farms Production is the Primary Cause of Pandemics!
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three-Point Political Program: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and The Iron Heel! For Decades, Blacks Have Been Subjected to The Iron Heel! Currently, the US Capitalist Class is Divided Over When — Not If, to Apply It to Everyone! Globaly, With the Current Gaza War, The Right of Assembly is Under Attack! Due to Years of Austerity, Cuts to Public Health Care, And An Anti-Science and Profiteering President, The United States Still Leads the World In Coronavirus Cases and Deaths in the World!
The Majority of the World, Despite the Media Monopoly’s Lies, are Opposed to the Palestinian Genocide and Global Warming — The 1% Minority Funds Them! At, this Time in History, Capitalism is Exposing the Fact That it is Opposed to Majority Rule/Democracy!
Always Remember: That President Obama, With a Majority Democrat Legislature Supported the Wall Street Bailout and Remember, That he Established, in writing, the United States Capitalist Austerity Program. — The Race to the Bottom/Pauperization of the 99%!
Democracy?: As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99%, Only the 1% Voted For Austerity! The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The 1%, Who Profit From Austerity!! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico.! Socialism Means True Democracy, that the 99% Will Rule, Not the Few!
Quotes of the Day:
A human-made disaster? The risk that tropical cyclones pose to human life is exacerbated by socioeconomic issues. Migrants on Mayotte, many of whom made perilous journeys to escape conflict in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, now make up more than half of the island’s population. Precarious housing and the undocumented status of many residents reportedly made the disaster more deadly, as people feared evacuation would lead them to the police. On islands with poor infrastructure such as Mayotte, there is often simply nowhere safe to go. It takes many days for the power network and drinking water supply to be restored. — Climate, Migration and Conflict mix to create ‘deadly’ intense Tropical Storms like Chido
Podcasts/Vide0s of the Day:
Drones Listen to a reading by Tim Foley: Drones fill the air and block out the natural sky. Drones armed with sniper rifles fly over Gaza at night playing the sounds of crying babies to lure civilians out of hiding. Drones surveil protest movements and give nightmares to grandmothers in New Jersey. Drones with facial recognition…
Malcolm X & William Bradley: The Sabotage of the Black Revolution Nation of Islam member William Bradley is I.D.’ed by Roland Sheppard who was an eyewitness to the murder of Malcolm X. Sheppard was inside The Audubon when the whole thing went down.
United States:
The United States is not a Democracy (A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly)! Only the 1%, through their ownership of the Republicrats and who profit from war and the war budget, vote for War and the war budget — A policy, which Gore Vidal called a Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace. — The 99% Should Decide On War — Not Just The 1% Who Profit From War! Under a Democracy, The 99% would have the right to vote on the policy of Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace! The United States takes from the poor and gives to the Rich. Tax the Rich! — They Can Afford ford To Pay! Both Parties Support U.S. Capitalism’s Wars! (The Only War the Democrats Opposed was the Civil War!)
Migration isn’t the Problem! The Migration of Wealth to the 1% is the Problem! The most significant “migration problem” is not the movement of people across borders, but rather the migration of wealth into the hands of a small elite (1%) which ultimately drives people to migrate in search of better economic opportunities! Addressing wealth inequality is key to tackling the root cause of global migration issues! — Roland Sheppard
We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both. — Louis D. Brandeis Quotes
The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government, I cannot be Silent. ― Martin Luther King Jr. The lazier faire pentagon has no accountability, it has failed 8 straight audits, and lies about Pac Americana! It is a five sided threat to life itself! Pentagon Admits Number Of US Troops In Syria Much Higher Than Previously Disclosed “How Does The Pentagon ‘Recently Learn’ That It Has More Than Double The Number Of U.S. Troops In Syria Than It Claimed To Have A Day Earlier?” Asked Veteran Journalist Jeremy Scahill. The Pentagon Acknowledged Thursday That It Had Been Providing Journalists And The Public With An Inaccurate Count Of The Number Of U.S. Troops Deployed To Syria, With A Spokesperson For The Department Telling Members Of The Press That The Actual Figure Is Two Times Higher Than What Was Previously Disclosed. “We Have Been Briefing You Regularly That There Are Approximately 900 U.S. Troops Deployed To Syria,” Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder Told Reporters During A Briefing On Thursday. “In Light Of The Situation In Syria And The Significant Interest, We Recently Learned That Those Numbers Were Higher, And So Asked To Look Into It. I Learned Today That In Fact There Are Approximately 2,000 U.S. Troops In Syria.”
United States Armed and Funded Terrorist Middle East War/Palestinan Genocide: When Biden Says ‘He’s a Zionist’ —Believe Him!
Irony is Dead: Netanyahu cannot Attend Auschwitz Ceremony for Fear of Arrest on ICC Warrant for War Crimes The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be able to travel to Poland for the 80th annual commemoration of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp because he fears being arrested on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court at the Hague. Arab 48 reports that the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita, the organizer of the ceremony to be held on January 27, Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, said, “We are bound to respect the decision of the International Criminal Court in the Hague.”
Human Rights Watch: Israel’s Crime of Extermination, Acts of Genocide in Gaza
- Israeli authorities have deliberately inflicted conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the population in Gaza by intentionally depriving Palestinian civilians there of adequate access to water, most likely resulting in thousands of deaths.
- In doing so, Israeli authorities are responsible for the crime against humanity of extermination and for acts of genocide. The pattern of conduct, coupled with statements suggesting that some Israeli officials wished to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, may amount to the crime of genocide.
- Governments and international organizations should take all measures to prevent genocide in Gaza, including discontinuing military assistance, reviewing bilateral agreements and diplomatic relations, and supporting the International Criminal Court and other accountability efforts.
(Jerusalem) – Israeli authorities have intentionally deprived Palestinian civilians in Gaza of adequate access to water since October 2023, most likely resulting in thousands of deaths and thus committing the crime against humanity of extermination and acts of genocide, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. In the 179-page report, “Extermination and Acts of Genocide: Israel Deliberately Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of Water,” Human Rights Watch found that Israeli authorities have intentionally deprived Palestinians in Gaza of access to safe water for drinking and sanitation needed for basic human survival. Israeli authorities and forces cut off and later restricted piped water to Gaza; rendered most of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure useless by cutting electricity and restricting fuel; deliberately destroyed and damaged water and sanitation infrastructure and water repair materials; and blocked the entry of critical water supplies.
Environment:
Fund Climate! — Not Genocide! One of Many Ways to Begin to End Global Warming: Expose ‘Greenwashing’ — Tax the Polluters 100%! After World War II Rosa Luxenburg Coined the Slogan: ‘S0cialism or Barbaism’! Now the Slogan Should Be: ‘Ecosocialism or Ecocide’!
We Must Hold These Monsters to Account!
Weekly Average CO2 at Mauna Loa Week beginning on December 15, 2024: 424.96 ppm. Weekly value from 1 year ago: 422.40 ppm. Weekly value from 10 years ago: .399.32 ppm. Last updated: December 22, 2024.
Oil Refineries are Carcinogenetic! From: “Trade Secrets” Cancer and the Environment (What the Bill Moyers Program Trade Secrets Revealed: …An example of this fact is the population living “downwind” from the many oil refineries in Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area. People living near these refineries have very high rates of cancer. In EPA terms, this is called a “cancer cluster.” The EPA, in its corporate manner, determined that the high rates of cancer was caused by high rates of smoking in the area and not from the refineries’ carcinogenic pollutions! However, under the rules of Proposition 65 in California and after several years of litigation, the Gasoline Refining Industry had to post this warning in the February 24, 1999, issue of the San Francisco Chronicle: Text of Actual WARNING: Chemicals known to the State to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm are found in gasoline, crude oil, and many other petroleum products and their vapors, or result from their use. Read and follow label directions and use care when handling or using all petroleum products. Chemicals known to the State to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm are found in and around gasoline stations, refineries, chemical plants, and other facilities that produce, handle, transport, store, or sell crude oil and petroleum and chemical products. Other facilities covered by this warning include, for example, oil and gas wells, oil and gas treating plants, petroleum and chemical storage tanks, pipeline systems, marine vessels and barges, tank trucks and tank cars loading and unloading facilities, and refueling facilities. The foregoing warning is provided pursuant to Proposition 65. This law requires the Governor of California to publish a list of chemicals “known to the State to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.” This list is compiled in accordance with a procedure established by the Proposition, and can be obtained from the California Environmental Protection Agency. Proposition 65 requires that a clear and reasonable warning be given to persons exposed to the listed chemicals in certain situations.
Photo of Actual Warning:
CO2 Emissions From New North Sea Drilling Sites Would Match 30 Years’ Worth From UK Households New research comes as dozens of small potential fields have received some form of license from the government CO2 emissions from new North Sea drilling sites would match 30 years’ worth from UK households New research comes as dozens of small potential fields have received some form of license from the government. Potential new North Sea oil and gas fields with early stage licences from the UK would emit as much carbon dioxide as British households produce in three decades. The finding has led to calls to the government to reject demands from fossil fuel producers for the final permits needed to allow their operations to go ahead.
US Petrochemical Plants Send Millions of Pounds of Pollutants Into Waterways There are currently no EPA limits set for these contaminants in effluent water guidelines for the plastics industry. Nearly 70 petrochemical companies across the nation, including 30 in Texas, are sending millions of pounds of pollutants into waterways each year due to weak or nonexistent regulations, according to a report published by the watchdog group Environmental Integrity Project. The report analyzed wastewater discharges from petrochemical companies that produce plastics across the U.S., finding that a majority of the facilities had violated Clean Water Act permits and few were punished. In addition, only a few states are regulating some of the hazardous chemicals or substances of concern, and there are currently no limits set from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for these contaminants in effluent water guidelines for the plastics industry.
Black Liberation Civil Rights:
Labor:
Economy:
World:
Tectonic Shifts in World Relations Provoke Volcanic Explosions The whole world situation is dominated by enormous instability in international relations. This is the result of the struggle for hegemony between the US, the world’s most powerful imperialist nation, which is in relative decline, and other weaker but nonetheless rising powers, above all the younger and more dynamic China. The relative decline of US imperialism and the rise of China in particular have created a situation in which other countries can balance one against the other. In doing so they have been able to gain a modicum of autonomy to pursue their own interests, at the very least at a regional level. What we are witnessing is a by explosions of all sorts.
Syria’s New Fundamentalist Government: Women “biologically” Unsuited to Politics, Universities to be Segregated Obeida Arnaout, the spokesman for the Sunni fundamentalist Levant Liberation Council (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham or HTS) gave an interview on Wednesday with the Lebanese Al-Jadid channel that provoked a firestorm of protest among Syrian women and, well, non-fundamentalists. He pledged, “There will be no imposition of the hijab on the Christian community or any other group because these matters are not a point of contention, and people are free.” It is not sure what he meant by “any other group.” If he meant “any other non-Sunni minority group,” then mandatory veiling could still be imposed on women of Sunni Muslim heritage. When the fundamentalist, Salafi HTS was ruling the northern Syria province of Idlib earlier this year before they took over the whole country, it promulgated a law on public behavior that required all girls older than twelve to wear a veil in public, forbade public performance of music, demanded gender segregation, and established a morals police of the sort that used to patrol Saudi Arabia and still does police behavior in Afghanistan. It seems a little unlikely that its leaders have changed their minds about the desirability of any of these measures, though they also are not as strong in ..big cities like Aleppo and Damascus as they had been in small, rural Idlib.
Health, Education, and Welfare:
Austerity has Been Around for a Long Times, It has Been the Public Program of World Capitalism Since the 2008 Crisis!: Trump’s Appointee for Social Security Raises Fears of Austerity and Cuts The Social Security Administration’s incoming head is a Wall Street insider who may help the right slash benefits. Earlier this month, in a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump announced his incoming administration’s nomination to head the Social Security Administration (SSA). Should he be confirmed in the Senate, the SSA’s next commissioner will be the wealthy corporate CEO, Trump and Ron DeSantis donor and Wall Street “fixer,” Frank Bisignano.